Current Insights Into Complex Post Infection Fatigue Syndromes With Unknown Aetiology The Case Of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis Chronic Fatigue Syndrome And Beyond

Myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) are serious, debilitating conditions that affect millions of people in the United States and around the world. ME/CFS can cause significant impairment and disability. Despite substantial efforts by researchers to better understand ME/CFS, there is no known cause or effective treatment. Diagnosing the disease remains a challenge, and patients often struggle with their illness for years before an identification is made. Some health care providers have been skeptical about the serious physiological - rather than psychological - nature of the illness. Once diagnosed, patients often complain of receiving hostility from their health care provider as well as being subjected to treatment strategies that exacerbate their symptoms. Beyond Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome proposes new diagnostic clinical criteria for ME/CFS and a new term for the illness - systemic exertion intolerance disease(SEID). According to this report, the term myalgic encephalomyelitis does not accurately describe this illness, and the term chronic fatigue syndrome can result in trivialization and stigmatization for patients afflicted with this illness. Beyond Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome stresses that SEID is a medical - not a psychiatric or psychological - illness. This report lists the major symptoms of SEID and recommends a diagnostic process.One of the report's most important conclusions is that a thorough history, physical examination, and targeted work-up are necessary and often sufficient for diagnosis. The new criteria will allow a large percentage of undiagnosed patients to receive an accurate diagnosis and appropriate care. Beyond Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome will be a valuable resource to promote the prompt diagnosis of patients with this complex, multisystem, and often devastating disorder; enhance public understanding; and provide a firm foundation for future improvements in diagnosis and treatment.

Help young CFS sufferers cope with this debilitating illness Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) is a debilitating illness that can have devastating effects for those afflicted, especially children and adolescents. Pediatric Chronic Fatigue Syndrome discusses this growing problem and its many facets in depth, including the mounting prevalence of incidents in the population and detailed explanations of diagnostic criteria. Case studies are provided to illustrate the issues those afflicted with CFS face, such as increasing isolation, decreasing school attendance, the length of time it typically takes to get diagnosed, and the impact on leisure activities. Current criteria for CFS were designed for use in adults, with few studies done on assessing how appropriate these criteria are for children and adolescents. Pediatric Chronic Fatigue Syndrome provides the criteria for first-time diagnosis of pediatric CFS and includes practical recommendations developed by the International Association of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Pediatric Case Definition Working Group. This book closely examines the potential impact that Chronic Fatigue Syndrome has on child and adolescent functioning, psychological factors, social factors, and the suffering endured from symptoms. Guidelines are provided on ways ME-CFS (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome) can be addressed in primary practice. Topics in Pediatric Chronic Fatigue Syndrome include: ME/CFS CACFS (Chronic Fatigues Syndrome in Children and Adolescents) the common problem of Munchausen-by-proxy research on the psychosocial, family, and physical functioning comparing children and adolescents with CFS and those without CFS using theory in clinical practice guidelines on how ME/CFS can be addressed in primary practice overview of CFS aspects for healthcare professionals who may be called on to diagnose or treat the illness and more Pediatric Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is timely, important information for health professionals, researchers, counselors, caregivers, parents of children and adolescents with CFS, and patients with CFS.

Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is a severe chronic health condition that is often misunderstood or ignored by health establishments. The lack of definitive diagnostic markers to separate ME/CFS patients from the healthy population as well as from other chronic disorders is problematic for both health professionals and researchers. A consortium of Australian researchers gathered to systematically understand ME/CFS, ranging from a deep analysis of clinical and pathology data to metabolomic profiles and the investigation of mitochondrial function. From this broad collaboration, a number of compelling insights have arisen that may form the basis of specific serum, blood, and/or urinary biomarkers of ME/CFS. This Special Edition reports on a conference centred on these biomedical discoveries, with other contributions, with a translation focus for predictive markers for ME/CFS diagnosis. By supporting health professionals with developments in diagnostics for this condition, the patients and their families will hopefully benefit from an improved recognition of the biomedical underpinnings of the condition and will be better able to access the care that is urgently required. This Special Edition contains a mix of speaker submissions and other accepted manuscripts that contributed to our objective of advancing biomedical insights to enable the accurate diagnosis of ME/CFS.

This interdisciplinary book explores both the connections and the tensions between sociological, psychological, and biological theories of exhaustion. It examines how the prevalence of exhaustion – both as an individual experience and as a broader socio-cultural phenomenon – is manifest in the epidemic rise of burnout, depression, and chronic fatigue. It provides innovative analyses of the complex interplay between the processes involved in the production of mental health diagnoses, socio-cultural transformations, and subjective illness experiences. Using many of the existing ideologically charged exhaustion theories as case studies, the authors investigate how individual discomfort and wider social dynamics are interrelated. Covering a broad range of topics, this book will appeal to those working in the fields of psychology, sociology, medicine, psychiatry, literature, and history.

One of the Most Rapidly Advancing Fields in Modern Neuroscience The success of molecular biology and the new tools derived from molecular genetics have revolutionized pain research and its translation to therapeutic effectiveness. Bringing together recent advances in modern neuroscience regarding genetic studies in mice and humans and the practicality of clinical trials, Translational Pain Research: From Mouse to Man effectively bridges the gap between basic research and patient care by humanely examining rodent models for pain associated with bone cancer, osteoarthritis, fibromyalgia, and cardiac episodes. Distinguished Team of International Contributors In addition to addressing the groundbreaking technical advances in tract tracing, endocannabinoids, cannabis, gene therapy, siRNA gene studies, and the role of glia, cytokines, P2X receptors and ATP, this book also presents cutting-edge information on: Nociceptor sensitization Muscle nociceptors and metabolite detection Visceral afferents in disease Innovative rodent model for bone cancer pain Highly specific receptor cloning Modular molecular mechanisms relevant to painful neuropathies This sharply focused work also discusses unexpected discoveries derived from brain-imaging studies related to thalamic pain. Translational Pain Research covers the progress made toward bringing laboratory science (much of it at the molecular level) to our understanding of pain phenomena in humans, with the ultimate goal of reducing the suffering that often accompanies pain and its indirect consequences.

The latest research in neurobiology and in biological psychiatry has led to the discovery of many interactions between mood states and alterations in brain neurochemistry, neuroendocrinology, and brain imaging. Chronic Fatigue and Related Immune Deficiency Syndromes presents a state-of-the-art synthesis of research into disorders of chronic fatigue. It examines the relationship of chronic fatigue and related immune deficiency syndromes to major biological depression and reviews how they are alike and how they differ in etiology, psychopathology, neuroendocrinology, neurochemistry, and treatment. The chapters on treatment review all the varying approaches currently being used (along with the theories on which they are based) to set the scene for future developments in antivirals and antidepressants. This comprehensive yet concise text presents what is known on chronic fatigue syndrome from the vantage point of experts in the fields of immunology, virology, and neuroendocrinology.

Ten years after the end of the Gulf War, questions continue to be raised about the health of U.S. service personnel who fought in that war. A primary concern is whether Gulf War veterans are receiving effective treatments for their health problems. Section 105 of the Veterans Program Enhancement Act of 1998 mandates that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) ask the Institute of Medicine (IOM) to convene a committee that would identify a method for assessing treatment effectiveness and describe already-validated treatments for Gulf War veterans' health problems, including the problem of medically unexplained symptoms. The specific charge to the committee is to (1) identify and describe approaches for assessing treatment effectiveness; (2) identify illnesses and conditions among veterans of the Gulf War, using data obtained from the VA and the Department of Defense (DoD) Gulf War Registries, as well as information in published articles; and (3) for these identified conditions and illnesses, identify validated models of treatment (to the extent that such treatments exist), or identify new approaches, theories, or research on the management of patients with these conditions if validated treatment models are not available.